Backend Software Engineer Lead

IvoryCloud is seeking a Backend Software Engineer Lead to anchor the backend development team on a mission-critical federal enterprise system supporting high-volume, high-visibility transactions across NIPR and SIPR environments within the defense security cooperation/foreign military sales space. This is a Key Personnel position responsible for architectural decisions, API design, microservices implementation, and the dual-track sprint discipline that balances operations and maintenance sustainment with new-feature development. The ideal candidate brings deep enterprise application engineering experience, demonstrated cross-domain (NIPR/SIPR) delivery capability, and the disciplined technical judgment required to evolve a complex mission system incrementally, respecting the legacy code, data structures, and operational dependencies that have accrued since the system's inception., · Serve as the technical lead and single point of accountability for backend engineering on the program, owning architectural decisions, API design, microservices implementation, and data-access patterns.

· Anchor the backend development team, providing technical mentorship, code review leadership, and architectural guidance across the sprint cycle.

· Engineer high-volume, high-availability REST APIs supporting complex transactional workflows - including contract-first OpenAPI / Swagger specifications, semantic versioning with backward compatibility, and consumer-driven contract testing embedded in CI/CD.

· Architect microservices boundaries deliberately - supporting independent deployability, fault isolation, and team autonomy while avoiding the distributed-monolith anti-pattern common in federal enterprise applications.

· Engineer service-to-service security at the application layer - including mutual TLS, OAuth 2.0 + JWT enforcement, rate limiting, and service mesh policy alignment with platform-layer infrastructure controls.

· Partner with the Data Engineer to build the data-access layer supporting financial reporting feed completeness - directly contributing to audit-finding remediation for transaction universe and case activity requirements.

· Engineer data-completeness validation into application logic so that records missing required fields are flagged and returned for correction rather than silently persisted; required-field completeness is an engineered property of the platform, not a downstream audit finding.

· Maintain full requirements traceability from approved user stories through acceptance criteria, test cases, and delivered functionality - supporting the Product Manager's traceability commitment and the standing audit-evidence record.

· Engineer TDD and BDD discipline across the backend codebase, targeting greater automated test coverage overall and 100% on security-sensitive code.

· Engineer dual-track sprint discipline - allocating backend capacity transparently between O&M sustainment work and new feature development, with a standing audit-remediation lane reserved within new-feature capacity.

· Engineer cross-domain (NIPR/SIPR) release coordination, ensuring NIPR releases validate fully before signed-artifact promotion through the cross-domain solution and SIPR-side deployment within the established follow-on window.

· Engineer classification-aware data handling patterns, including data labeling enforcement, DLP integration, and provenance logging - ensuring data classification is engineered into the application rather than enforced solely at the network or storage layer.

· Engineer and maintain integration points with external federal systems using a contract-first API methodology and feature-toggle decoupling so that external partner timelines never block internal delivery velocity.

· Partner with the QA / Test Engineer to build test automation, embed quality gates in CI/CD, and conduct user acceptance testing (UAT) facilitation before every production release.

· Lead architectural and code reviews on every backend pull request, enforcing established peer-review discipline and ensuring no production change advances without documented technical and security sign-off.

· Engineer release notes, deployment runbooks, and rollback procedures for every production release; partner with the Release Manager and Platform / DevSecOps Lead on release coordination and blue/green deployment execution.

· Contribute to program reporting and mission value communications by producing technical-delivery, code-quality, and reliability indicators for government leadership and oversight bodies.

· Maintain a continuously refreshed backend engineering risk register tracking technical debt, architectural risk, scalability ceilings, and security findings with documented mitigation owners and current status visible via shared project management dashboards.

· Ensure team adherence to established CMMI Level 3 DEV and SVC appraised processes for requirements management, configuration management, verification, validation, decision analysis and resolution, and process and product quality assurance.

· Represent backend engineering capability in technical interchange meetings, architectural review boards, Change Control Board technical reviews, and joint cross-agency working groups; provide engineering feasibility input to program and product leadership.

· Mentor and develop supporting Backend Engineers and Frontend Developers on backend-integration concerns; support recruiting, onboarding, and professional development of the broader engineering team.

· Research and evaluate emerging backend engineering practices, microservices patterns, API governance frameworks, and AI-assisted development tooling - recommending pragmatic adoption only where direct delivery acceleration, code-quality improvement, or audit-evidence gain is demonstrable.

Do you have experience in Systems integration?, Do you have a Bachelor's degree?, · U.S. Citizenship: Required, Non-negotiable. (This differs from eligibility to work in the U.S.)

· Clearance: Active Secret clearance required.

· Minimum Years Experience: 10 years of backend software engineering experience on enterprise applications, including a minimum of 5 years supporting U.S. federal customers and 3 years in a technical lead, senior engineer, or architect capacity on enterprise-scale mission systems.

· Location: Arlington, Virginia / National Capital Region; hybrid schedule with regular on-site presence at DSCA Headquarters (Arlington, VA) and IvoryCloud Headquarters (Rockville, MD). Must reside within commuting distance of the NCR and be able to report on-site within three hours of request.

· Demonstrated expert proficiency in Java, Python, or .NET (C#); working proficiency with a second of those stacks strongly preferred.

· Demonstrated experience engineering microservices architectures, REST API design (OpenAPI / Swagger), contract-first integration patterns, and relational and analytical data stores at federal enterprise scale.

· Exceptional oral and written communication skills, including the ability to brief technical leadership, government technical teams, and the Government Product Owner on architectural decisions and trade-offs.

· Demonstrated Test-Driven Development (TDD) and Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) discipline, including requirements traceability and automated test coverage on security-sensitive code.

· Direct experience engineering and sustaining applications operating across both NIPR and SIPR environments, including classification-aware data handling and cross-domain release coordination.

Education

· Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical discipline. Master's degree in a related technical discipline preferred.

· Equivalent professional experience may be considered in lieu of formal degree on a case-by-case basis.

Certifications

· Desired certifications include:

o Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate (AZ-204)

o AWS Certified Developer - Associate

o CompTIA Security+

o Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)

o Java Developer

o Certified Scrum Practitioner (CSP) or equivalent (within six months of hire), · Demonstrated experience engineering and operating backend applications within a CMMI Level 3 or higher appraised Agile delivery organization across both NIPR and SIPR environments.

· Direct experience with defense security cooperation, Foreign Military Sales (FMS), or comparable mission domains and their enterprise systems.

· Experience engineering high-volume federal financial or transactional systems at significant annual throughput scale.

· Experience integrating backend applications with DoD enterprise data ecosystems, cross-domain solutions, or comparable classified data environments; such as DoD Advana, eMASS, Bifrost CDS, or other adjacent enterprise data ecosystems.

· Track record of backend engineering work cited in audit-finding closure, performance improvement, or technical-debt reduction on federal program performance reviews., * backend software engineering: 10 years (Required)

• supporting U.S. federal customers: 5 years (Required)

Pulled from the full job description

• Referral program
• 401(k)
• Health insurance
• 401(k) matching
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance, · Salaried position and eligible for participation in company and Business Development bonus programs

· Full-time benefits include:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Referral program
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

About IvoryCloud

IvoryCloud is a growing 8(a) certified small business. Our work with Federal and commercial clients includes Mission Systems development, modernization, and support, Software services, AI/ML engineering, Enterprise Cybersecurity, and Mission Optimization services. We are a growing, privately held small business located in Rockville, MD. IvoryCloud is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EEO).

Pay: $145,000.00 - $175,000.00 per year, * 401(k)

• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Application Question(s):

• This role requires U.S. citizenship. Please type 'citizen' if you meet this requirement.
• Do you meet the hybrid requirements of on-site work in Arlington, VA and Rockville, MD?
• Please list your active certifications.